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Meeting management
Meeting management is a facilitation technique and useful project management skill. Meetings are frequently suggested as one of the tools and techniques for PMI processes. Since meetings are also used in many other contexts, there is much advice for making them more effective. :If you have additional suggestions for meeting management, add them below. Preparation * Create and share the agenda in advance with the invited participants. *: Tip: Start the agenda item with a verbCollins, Jeff. "9 Tips to Running A Productive Project Management Meeting". February 29th, 2016 on the Innovative Management Solutions site. *: Consider whether other communication methods would work better for agenda items that are primarily just updates or notifications. * Make sure you have the people in the meeting who are necessary for the purpose. *: For instance, if the meeting is intended to come to a decision, the person or people who can approve the decision should be present. *: If the meeting topics cover areas where specific knowledge is required, have the experts there. *: If the meeting is to create options, consider having a Delphi brainstorming session in advance. * Set the expectation that attendees should come prepared to provide updates on the components of the project for which they are responsible -- tasks, action items, communications, etc. During the meeting * Use a "parking lot" to capture future topics. Stay on the agenda, but record "off-topic" items for later discussion. (If there's extra time, after the agenda is complete, you could cover these topics, if the right people and information are available.) * Record decisions. When a decision is made, write it for the record and read it back to ensure it is correct. * Record action items. (See action item list.) There are different ways to ensure that each action item is assigned to a responsible "owner", given a priority and a due date. Make sure you have an appropriate method to ensure follow-up. * Record risks. (Again, various organizations will have different ways to enter the risks into the risk register with the additional, necessary information.) * Close each agenda item with a plan (or multiple activities) such as a recorded decision or action item. * For status meetings, consider other options, such as a status communication. A status update may be necessary as a starting point, such as when resolving an emergency. After the meeting * After the meeting, send out or post a meeting record. Have a standard way to correct, amend, or update the record. ** For regular meetings, it can be an agenda item in the next meeting. ** Make sure everyone knows where they can find the agendas and records for meetings. ** Have some standard tags, naming conventions, or locations to make it easier to find discussions and decisions of specific topics later. * Follow-up on action items, issues, parking lot topics, and anything else identified for "later". It is important that everyone know these things cannot be ignored or dropped. External links * PMI conference paper: The secrets to running project status meetings that work! by Brownlee, Dana. 2008. * Meeting Management: It Takes a Team! prepared by HR/Organizational Development and Training, Tufts University. * 9 Tips to Running A Productive Project Management Meeting by Jeff Collins, February 29th, 2016 on the Innovative Management Solutions site References Category:Skills Category:Tools and techniques